Approach this change with caution. Every engine out there, gas or diesel, has design limitations for its model year of manufacture. Those limitations are in part EPA regulated but most are in the engineering design of the engine. Everyone just sees the power change that is available from modifying the engine’s electronic operating parameters, but they have no clue as to what that change is doing on the inside. All diesel smoke (% opacity) is EPA regulated. Smoke is the product of too much fuel and not enough air. It’s that simple. One of the many sensors in the engine monitors boost pressure and will electronically override the accelerator pedal position until such a boost pressure is achieved that will burn the demanded fuel without smoke. Increasing the fuel increases the combustion pressures in the cylinders and this places a larger than design load on the wrist pins, connecting rods, crank shaft and everything behind it including the transmission (and final drive) as a previous posting has already stated. More fuel increases the design heat load on the engine and its ability to reject it through the radiator and oil cooler assemblies. The electronic aftermarket is not EPA regulated. Since they did not make your engine they are not held responsible for its compliance. All they care about is putting a smile on your face (after the chip purchase of course) when you press on the accelerator. Damage to an engine due to a power chip is very difficult to pin down and depends on where in the engine the damage took place and if it left any trail of evidence. In other words it’s very easy for the chip maker to say “our product did not cause this” and the vehicle’s owner is left with the cost of rebuild or replacement. I have seen the aftermath of a power chip gone wrong. The engine’s turbo (whose speed is also electronically controlled) over sped. This caused the compressor fan to disintegrate sending shrapnel through the engine’s intake manifold, through the intake valves, through the cylinders, through the exhaust valves, and their remaining residues were lodged in the inlet of the after treatment. There was no doubt about what caused that failure. The turbo speed had been altered in the chip to increase boost pressure. How was this verified? The owner still had the modified chip on the engine when the vehicle was towed to the shop. Chipping IMHO is a roll of the dice.
Dan
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